Trump Says It’s Too Far From Alaska But What’s the Real Reason Palin Will Not Be in Cleveland?

For those Sarah Palin fans out there who were hoping to see her at the Republican National Convention, forget it. She’s not going to attend.

What?

Yep, you heard that right. It’s too far for her to travel from Alaska to Cleveland so she’s staying home. At least, that’s what The Donald himself was quoted as saying:

“She was asked,” Donald Trump told the Washington Examiner in an interview Thursday. “It’s a little bit difficult because of where she is. We love Sarah. Little bit difficult because of, you know, it’s a long ways away.”

Wait. Sarah endorsed The Donald. She hit some campaign stops with him. And now she’s not going to make the trip to Cleveland?

The Washington Examiner noted it was an 11-hour flight for Palin to travel from Alaska to Ohio.

If that’s too far, then how was it that earlier this year she traveled throughout the lower 48, including a March Florida Trump rally in Tampa, to help her guy?

By my unscientific calculations, Alaska to Florida is a distance of roughly 3,800 miles or approximately 13 hours in the air … so we’re to believe she was willing to travel a greater distance to campaign than to speak at the nominating convention of the candidate she supported?

Palin appeared with Trump in January and gave a lively endorsement of him which left some scratching their heads as The Donald, who had introduced her as a “special, special, special” person, stood behind her with an increasingly plastered smile on his face. Saturday Night Live enjoyed it so much they made a skit out of it. Perhaps Cleveland didn’t want to end up on SNL.

Or could Palin not showing up be as simple as wanting to stay close to her husband Todd who may still be recuperating from serious injuries received in March when he wrecked on a snow machine? Yeah … maybe that’s it.

Reporters noticed that Palin’s name was notably missing from the roster of convention speakers, a list Trump referred to as “winners.” Ahh … we know how Trump feels about losers. She could have gotten lumped in with John McCain — who is a loser, according to Trump, because he dared to serve in war, got shot down by the North Vietnamese, and spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in a hell hole in Hanoi — and because the McCain-Palin ticket lost in 2008.

Meanwhile, if there’s any doubt, the New York Times listed the lineup of speakers for the week and Palin’s name is indeed missing:

Night 1: A Benghazi focus, followed by border patrol agents and Jamiel Shaw, whose son was killed by an undocumented immigrant. Senator Tom Cotton, Rudy Giuliani, Melania Trump, Senator Jodi Ernst and others.

Night 2: A focus on the economy: Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship; Asa Hutchinson, the governor of Arkansas; Michael Mukasey, the former United States attorney general; Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a vice-presidential possibility; Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader; Tiffany Trump; Donald Trump Jr. and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

Night 3: Pam Bondi, Florida attorney general; astronaut Eileen Collins; Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker; Senator Ted Cruz of Texas; Eric Trump; golfer Natalie Gulbis; and the nominee for vice president. [Indiana Gov. Mike Pence??]

Night 4: former quarterback Tim Tebow; Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma; Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman; Gov. Rick Scott of Florida; Peter Thiel of PayPal and other ventures; Thomas Barrack, a real-estate investor; Ivanka Trump; Donald J. Trump.

[Editor’s note: After this list was published, Tim Tebow said he never agreed to be a speaker and will not be addressing the convention.]

Palin’s dreams may have been crushed and the whole reason she is not in Cleveland could be because she had hoped to be Trump’s vice presidential pick, duplicating 2008. You know … kind of like his apprentice. In this notorious political year when a reality TV personality has insulted his way to the top, what would be so strange about having another reality TV personality as his running mate? On second thought, that may be a bridge too far, even for this year.

We may never know the real reason why Sarah Palin, eight years after accepting the nomination for GOP vice president, won’t be at the 2016 convention. But after all is said and done, the simple fact is the salmon are running right now in Alaska, and she’s a big fisherman. Sometimes there’s just not enough time for politics.